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Everywhere I turn this week, I see strange pictures of game developers. "Paparazzi" is probably the wrong word, since these weren't taken without permission, etc., but it has a nice ring to it. Here are some I've seen:

A couple days ago, Warner Bros. proudly disrobed Batman: Arkham City Lockdown -- an iOS game developed by NetherRealm ("the Mortal Kombat team"), looking a lot like the 360/PS3 Arkham City, and available that same day. It seems we're finally in a world where Tom Kalinske launch strategies make sense.

Because I'm weird and sometimes care more about the people making games than the games themselves, the developer struck me as the biggest part of the news. Not only is this the latest case of a "traditional" studio on iOS, but these guys hadn't done a non-MK game since 2001's shooter-for-people-who-don't-play-shooters The Grid, which turned out to be a fun little distraction.

And that's what I was hoping for from Lockdown, and kind of what I got. Like a lot of iOS titles, it's basically one mechanic stretched into a game. So the game drops you into a series of one-on-one fights -- first with grunts, then bosses like Two Face and The Joker -- and you basically take turns slapping each other.

You have no movement control or story to follow, so it's a dodge/parry/attack game, seasoned with occasional variety in boss fights where you find yourself running away from boss Grundy, aiming the Batarang with a follow-cam and tilt controls, and wiping the screen clear to get the Joker's stink off (all of which are fun but only last about 5-10 seconds, and if I recall correctly, those are the only three special case scenes in the game).

And the combat isn't actually turn-based, but it feels that way, since you patiently trade swings with enemies or risk getting hit in the middle of an animation. The challenge comes with successfully dodging/parrying when it's their "turn," and then trying to pull off combos when you get your openings. It's fun, but much slower than a typical fighting game, and stiffer than you'd expect if you've played Infinity Blade.

It's also only a few hours long, looks incredible -- basically comparable to the console Arkham City -- and has some nice extras like costumes (that cost $.99 each) and digital comics (free!). At $5.99, you're basically paying for the graphics and the license; the mechanics are as simple as you get in most free or $.99 games.

So as a piece of Mortal Kombat developer trivia porn, I like it, though it doesn't seem nearly as addictive as most good one-mechanic iOS games.

One of my projects at TGS this year is to get developers to draw sketches for an upcoming issue of 1UP Presents/feature on the site/charity auction. We're going to keep most of these a surprise so we can reveal them as a group and hopefully have something cool to show off in a few weeks, but I figured I'd share a photo of one I took today at Grasshopper's office while interviewing Akira Yamaoka for a Silent Hill 2 feature Bob's writing. This is Kazutoshi Iida and Doshin the Giant:

Grasshopper's also throwing a pre-TGS press event tomorrow night Japan time -- so about 20 hours from the time stamp on this blog -- where we should get to check out Codename D and a few others.